Dehradun: In a significant move, the Indian Navy, after sensing the apathy of the honorary-rank holder celebrities towards armed forces, has decided to not to confer anyone with these prestigious ranks henceforth.

Navy has concluded that the celebrities previously conferred with such ranks have remained apathetic towards the armed forces. Chief of Navy staff, Admiral DK Joshi said that the Indian Navy is now not in favour of conferring prestigious titles to the civilians.

Recently, following the footstep of cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, Indian cricket team captain MS Dhoni, who also holds the honorary rank of Lt-Colonel in the Territorial Army, had chosen to give a miss to the Army’s annual parade ceremony.

Last year, Dhoni was conferred with the honorary rank of Lt-Colonel in the Territorial Army amid much fanfare.

Tendulkar was inducted into the Air Force as an Honorary Group Captain in September 2010.

The absence of Dhoni and Tendulkar from their respective organisational events had sparked off a debate on whether the celebrities should be conferred such titles or not.

The Ministry of Defence had started conferring such titles to the celebrities in a bid to attract the youths for opting defence as their career. But the non-participation and non-commitment of these celebrities towards their duties have caused disappointment which has culminated into the fresh decision of Indian Navy to stop honouring any celebrity with these titles.